25 Laps, 25 Years Later

Mark Nenow recalls his 1986 American 10,000m record

This summer marks the 25th anniversary of Mark Nenow’s American record in the 10,000m. Then 28, Nenow outran a deep field (that also included an aging and unfit Henry Rono) to win the 25-lap race in Brussels on Sept. 5, 1986, finishing in 27:20:56 to break Alberto Salazar’s U.S. mark by 5.05 seconds. “For me, all of 1986 was targeted about trying to break the record,” says Nenow, who had run 27:29:06 earlier in the summer in Oslo. “And it kind of all came together in that race.” Amazingly, Nenow’s mark stood until 2001, when Meb Keflezighi broke it with a 27:13.98 effort.

At the time, Nenow’s effort was a world-class effort, No. 3 all-time and less than seven seconds off Portugal’s Fernando Mamede’s 1984 world record of 27:13.81. Only four U.S. runners have bettered Nenow’s time — including Chris Solinsky (26:59.60) and Galen Rupp (27:10.4) last year — but 27:20:56 doesn’t even rank among the world’s top 50 all-time performances. The world-record has been broken 11 times since Mamede’s mark, including three times in Brussels, where Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele set the current record of 26:17:53 in 2005.

We recently caught up with Nenow to reflect on his record-setting summer. Now 53, he’s the vice president of global footwear merchandising at Columbia, where he is helping Columbia develop more of a presence in the trail running world and played a role in expanding the already deep reach of Montrail and Mountain Hardwear. After retiring from running in 1991, he worked briefly for ASICS, spent 11 years at Nike and then served as brief stint at Brooks before joining Columbia in 2007.

RT: What do you remember most about the summer of 1986?

MN: The whole year of 1986 and especially that summer, was targeted at trying to break Alberto Salazar’s 10,000m American record of 27:25:21. I had run close to the record at Oslo earlier in that summer. A lot of times you only have one big shot, where everything lines up. So the idea that I could come back in six weeks and try to do it again was tough, like maybe the cards were stacked against me. But I was really in shape, probably the best I ever was during that period.

I had run a fast 10,000m in Oslo and a good 5,000m in Paris and then I came back to the U.S. to train for six or seven weeks just specifically to go back to Brussels to try to run the record. My training had gone extremely well. But it always takes a little bit of luck, too, when you’re going after a record or a fast time. The race, the way it was set up in Brussels for me was just about perfect. It was a good field and there were two or three pacemakers to set the tone.

One guy was supposed to bring the race through 2K, and then there were two more who were supposed to bring the race through 5K, and then it’s kind of up for grabs after that and you’re on your own. But I wanted to come through halfway in 13:45 or 13:43 and I remember that we were slow. We got to 5K at about 13:51 or something. A lot of times in those races, you sort of zone out and relax and try to have no memory, so I don’t have specific memory of many of the splits, but I do have a memory of being slow in the first half and getting a little bit tense about it. You know, every second counts, and if you feel like you’re going to be at the halfway point slow, it just builds on you. The rabbitting was a little funny, a little uneven. I wish I could remember who the runner was, but I do remember it was a bit slow.

When we got to 5K and all of the other guys rolled off, I really relaxed. I was in the lead and remember feeling really, really good and relaxing and just running. There was a guy on the track yelling out splits, and I think it was Jos Hermans.

I was lapping people, and that’s always a little bit tedious and concerning because some guys swing out and let you through and some guys don’t. And a lot of times you can’t tell what they’re going to do until you’re on them. Sometimes you’ll see a guy swing out when you’re 10 meter behind them, but then sometimes you’ll be coming up on a guy when you’re on the rail and he’ll slide out at the last second. It can screw your rhythm for a couple of seconds and at that point every second matters.

Still, I remember moving smoothly and moving fast and I was able to gain back what I needed to gain back. Then I think I sort of woke up to the time with about two laps to go. I was able to calculate it in my head with two laps to go and I realized it was going to happen unless I fell down. I finished in 27:20 and was very happy that I got the record.